Description:
Liszt is one of my heroes, and I wanted to make a recording with his piano works prior to his 200th birth anniversary. This CD features fantastic and virtuosic etudes that Liszt wrote for concerts, including Grande Etude de Perfectionnement "Ab Irato", which is fascinating but seldom played. It also has a very interesting background!

Tuesday, November 2, 2010

On October 14th, I performed the Liszt Piano Concerto No.1 with the YOA Orchestra of the Americas and Maestro Carlos Miguel Prieto in Santo Domingo. This Orchestra consists of young talented musician from North-Middle-South America, and it was so inspiring to perform with them!

From October 21st to 30th, I participated in the BNDES International Piano Competition in Rio De Janeiro. It was my first visit not only in Brazil, but in South America! I enjoyed playing the various music in front of enthusiastic public and was delighted to advance to the final round and perform the Liszt Piano Concerto No.2 with the Orquestra Sinfonica Brasileira and Maestro Joseph Giunta in the gorgeous Theatro Municipal! Finally I had an honor to receive the 2nd Prize.

Both places are so beautiful (especially the ocean!), and I was happy to make good friends. I really hope to go back to Latin America to perform in the future!

If anyone in the Middle-South America has interest to invite me, my agent in Argentina would be happy to be in contact with you.

Wednesday, August 18, 2010

I'm now preparing for the concert in the Festival Internacional de Santander this coming Saturday. Since I will premiere a work by Mr.Francesco Milita, the 1st Prize winner of the Concurso Internacional de Composición Pianística "Manuel Valcárcel", I would like to introduce its interesting concept here.

Concept:Composed après une lecture de... Elias Canetti, "Die Fackel im Ohr", includes 24 Wiener Klavierstücke, in homage to the Viennese school. 12 of these pieces are composed on a twelve-tone series, with reminiscences of expressionist colour, alternate with the other 12, built on fragments of the same series and subsequent permutations, however characterized by softer harmonic relations.

The emotional intensity that resonates on some pages is a composer's tribute to the great masters of the composition. Pensionne Charlotte, for example, where he transfiguring the Chopin style, or Veza, real romantic studio set on a particular piano technique; Flucht, is the homage to the refined contrapuntal technique of Felix Mendelssohn and die Frucht des Feuers, dedicated to Frank Zappa, was conceived as consequence, indeed, of the Bartok percussive furor, which emerges from the depths of the keyboard.

But the glow of another fire pervades the whole work, so that in each of these 24 preludes, as well as in Canetti's book, we find variations of the same disquiet background: the CHAOS, perpetual threat and valuable nourishment of our inspiration.

It's quite a challenge for me to prepare this monumental work within two months (there are nearly 100 pages, it takes about 55 minutes!), but I've been learning many things and was glad to discover the wonderful literature of Elias Canetti. ¡Naturalmente me alegro mucho también de trabajar con el compositor y de tocar pronto en Santander de nuevo!

It is a huge honour for me to play short after the New Year in such a prestigious hall, and to celebrate F.Liszt for his 200th birth anniversary as well as the two other composers for their "201st" anniversary!

Wednesday, July 7, 2010

The Classical 89 will broadcast my performance of Schumann Piano Concerto with the Utah Symphony and Maestro Lawrence L.Smith tomorrow, Thursday July 8th at 10a.m. and 3p.m. in Utah time (12p.m. & 5p.m. in NY, 6p.m.&11p.m. in Germany, 1a.m.&6a.m. in Japan)

The concept:
These pieces are all etudes that have subtitles and fantastic content (it's not just "studies"to improve one's pianistic skill). I think Liszt is one of the first composers who attempted to create a new horizen of "Etude"to make them played in concerts, and the Etudes of Ligeti and Liapunov were much influenced by Liszt. Putting those etudes together in a program, I accidentaly found a common point of these three composers; their names begin with "Li"!!
I wonder if this is the key to the fantastic concert etudes...

I hope to present this program in many different countries and cities next year!

“Fukuma combines the technical virtuosity with a superb musical sensibility and sensitivity that brings the emotional impact of the works to the surface. The music scene nowadays is overwhelmed with talent and virtuosity but nothing to compare with this young man.”-The Churchill Society, London, June, 08

“In detail and overall architecture, this was an exceedingly fine performance, one which led directly to a desire to hear more from this winsome young pianist.”-Northeast Wisconsin Music Review, Green Lake WI, July, 06

“An extraordinary Pianist”-Sanibel Review, Sanibel FL, February, 06

“Just as strong an offering was the young Fukuma’s rendition of the Beethoven third concerto”-Port Lincoln Journal Star, Lincoln NE, March, 06

“Perhaps the orchestra musicians were a bit inspired by the brilliant playing of the piano soloist Kotaro Fukuma. He seemed totally at ease in Bartok’s Concerto No.2. Fukuma played with great conviction the never slackened.”-The Post-Star, Glens Falls NY, March, 05

“Japanese pianist impresses audience- His technique was impeccable, and he showed himself to be a gifted lyricist as well.”-Canton Repository, Canton OH, December, 04

“Young pianist triumphs over program’s challenges. There are times when I really, I mean really, love this job. We’re all going to hear a lot more about him in coming years, or at least we all should.”-Courier Journal, Louisville KY, November, 04

“Such a fine performance comes only a few times in anyone’s life, even if the person devotes his life to attending concerts.”-The Post Journal, Jamestown NY, November, 04

“Kotaro Fukuma has already established himself as a concert pianist with a burgeoning international career.”-The Plain Dealer, Cleveland OH, February, 04

“Kotaro Fukuma has the solid technique one expects of a competition winner. More crucially, he has found a way to avoid the pressure toward interpretive cautiousness that has made the competition circuit so deadly. His performance of the Brahms Sonata No.3 in F minor went farther in the regard of tone palette. In the outer movements and in the Scherzo he played with a weight, articulation and coloristic flexibility that touched on an often overlooked aspect of Brahmsian sensibility, a sense of grandeur couched in terms of sober modesty. And he painted the two Andante movements with a gently seductive tone, complete clarity of texture, and the kind of dynamic gradation that creates the illusion that a work is a breathing organism.”-The New York Times, New York City, November, 03

Sunday, June 27, 2010

When I was 14 years old, I took part in the Gina Bachauer Young Artists Competition in Salt Lake City. It was the very first time for me to fly to the USA and perform in an "international" piano competition. I was much inspired and encouraged by the other competitors as well as the jury members throughout the competition.

At that time, I had a passion for music and piano, but I was doing many other things (baseball, track and field, student council and of course, playing with other kids and watching TV!). And my family lived in a condo, where I could play piano until 9p.m.. So the time I spent for the piano practicing was about 2 hours per day, even before coming to the competition.

On the first day of the competition, I was shocked to know that the other contestants (age 14 to 18) were going to play something extremely difficult like Ravel's Gaspard de la Nuit, Liszt's Dante Sonata, Mephist Waltz, Dutilleux's Sonata, Barber's Sonata, etc. And everything I was going to play was shorter than 10 minutes like Liszt/ Waldesrauschen, Schumann/ Aufschwung, Debussy/ Reflet dans l'eau...I even played Poulenc's Novelette No.1, which is a 3 minutes-long easy pretty piece!

So, I immediately thought "I should not have come here!" and didn't even think that I could advance to the final. But I did miracles! I was selected as one of the 12 finalists, and even awarded the 6th prize.

It was so hard for me and my mother to believe this result that we needed to ask each member of juror, why I could win the prize! One of the jury members said "I loved your Poulenc, it was purely beautiful. I also enjoyed the joy of playing music you showed us through your performance!". Since then the Poulenc's Novelette No.1 has been my favorite and very important piece, and I've never forgotten the importance of the "joy of playing music" at every performance. Also, I started seriously thinking of becoming a professional pianist and working harder. So, it was a very important exprience in my life.

Now I came back to Salt Lake City to take part in the Gina Bachauer Artists Piano Competition (age 19 to 32), and have just been selected as one of the 6 finalists last night!

I'm going to perform the Schumann Piano Concerto on Wednesday June 30th (approx.7:40p.m.in SLC time) with the Utah Symphony and Maestro Lawrence L. Smith, with whom I played Beethoven 3rd in Oregon in the Summer 2004. I realized that this is a perfect opportunity to celebrate the 200th birth anniversary of Schumann, since it's still in the month of his birthday (June 8th)!

Wednesday, June 9, 2010

June 8th is Robert Schumann's birthday, so there were some special events in Berlin yesterday. But I had to work hard and was too tired to go out afterwards, so I stayed home and celebrated it modestly, listening to one of my favorite CDs of Schumann piano music, which is the recording of my former teacher in Paris, Mr.Bruno Rigutto.

I discovered this CD soon after I started studying with him at the Paris Conservatoire. At that time I was a teanager and had difficulty adjusting myself to the life in Paris because of the lack of my language ability and general knowledge about the life. When I listened to this CD, my heart was so profoundly touched by the emotional playing and the rich and warm sound of Mr.Rigutto that I couldn't help but cry... At the next lesson, I brought him the CD and asked for his autograph. Unexpectedly, he wrote me such a encouraging word; "Pour Kotaro, Magnifique pianiste, très Artiste!" (To Kotaro, magnificent pianist, very artist!) So, this CD has been really one of my treasures!

Sunday, May 9, 2010

I'm sorry for being lazy to update my blog. I came back to Berlin on May 7th after the concert in Helsinki. I do like travelling around, but coming back home always makes me feel good :-)

Today, I visited a friend in Leipzig and spent a wonderful time. We went to the Schumann Haus and the Bach Museum. As I'm currently working on pieces by these two composers, they were so inspiring to me.

There are at least 6 Schumann Hauses in Germany (Zwickau, Düsseldorf, Bonn, Trier, Metz and Leipzig), but this house in Leipzig is quite important to me, because this is where Robert and Clara lived together after their marriage and Robert wrote his amazing song cycle and his piano concerto for Clara, although he dedicated them to other people (supposedly for friendship?).

I enjoyed discovering the background of the composition of the Piano Concerto and seeing the manuscript of the Fantasy for piano and orchestra, which became the first movement of the Piano Concerto later on.

There were many quotes of R.Schumann, but I especially liked the following, which he wrote in a letter to his former teacher, Mr.Johann Gottfried Kuntsch, in 1832.

("I have dissected Fugues (by Bach) themselves, one by one, up to their finest branches. The value is great, like a morally fortifying effect on the entire person, because Bach was a man, through and through; with him there's nothing halfway or sick, everything is written as if for eternity.")

The Bach Museum opened this March in front of the St.Thomas Church, where Bach was working as Cantor and Music Director for many years. The building looks symple, but the inside is full of modern technology. It is the most modernized museum of a classical composer I've ever seen! (Well, La Maison Erik Satie in Honfleur was also quite amusing with modern technology.)

I especially enjoyed the special exhibition "Meisterwerke im Wochentakt" (Masterpieces on a weekly basis"), where I could see some parts of his manuscript of cantatas, listen to its recordings with a headphone and read of course its conception and background. I was also amazed to see the family tree of Bach, even though I knew that he had many children (20 in total, but only 10 survived infancy!) . There was a room where you can sit on a comfortable sofa and listen to any work of Bach with headphone, searching by the BWV catalogue or title or instruments. But be careful, it is so relaxing that you can easily forget the time!

Anyway, the visit of those two museums fortified my motivation to work on their music (the Schumann's piano concerto and the Bach's Art of Fugue) enormously!

Wednesday, March 3, 2010

I have a concert tour in Spain from 13th to the end of this month. I'm going to preform in 10 cities, where I've never played before (except Santander!), so I made this video letter to introduce myself and my program to the Spanish public.

Monday, March 1, 2010

Hello. I'm sorry that I didn't update my blog more than a month.I was in Paris last week to work with a couple of teachers and visit friends.

On the last day of my stay, I decided to visit the grave of Chopin in the Pere Lachaise cemetery before going to the last appointment prior to my departure. When I came out from the metro station, it had started raining. So I had to walk in the shower, along the rough stony paths to the grave, without an umbrella but with a suitcase, a backpack and another bag.

As I was approaching the Chopin's grave, the rain got even heavier, as if I was not welcome(!?).There were some people around the grave, but they soon went away because of the heavy rain. Then I had the privilege to be alone in front of the grave for more than 10 minutes (well, without umbrella...) While my personal praying, the C-minor Nocturne Op.48-1 sounded on my mind, and it seemed to me a perfect situation to hear such profound and grievous music. After the last chord of C-minor followed the beginning of the F-minor Ballade Op.52, which starts calmly with a C-major chord. And then, the rain storm gradually abated... it was absolutely a miracle transition of music and nature!

Here are a couple of photos that I took:

(strangely it doesn't look like it was heavily raining!)

Anyway, I would like to express my deepest respect and gratitude to my favorite Polish composer on his 200th anniversary.

Friday, January 1, 2010

I wish you everyone a wonderful new year with peace, good health, happiness and prosperity!

I visited St.Petersburg between December 18th and 23rd (First time in Russia!), and spent the Christmas and New Year's Eve with some friends in snowy Berlin.

Now I'm working on the program of my first recital this year (Jan.9th in North Germany) which features the anniversary composers this year -Schumann (200th birth), Chopin (200th birth), Albeniz (150 birth), Balakirev (100 death) . I feel like celebrating those composers everyday by practicing their pieces!